The timeless tale of Ebenezer Scrooge comes to thrilling new life as Tony Award® winner Jefferson Mays (I Am My Own Wife, Gentleman’s Guide…) plays over 50 roles in a virtuosic, master class of a performance that must be seen to be believed. This theatrical achievement comes from the haunting and hope-filled vision of one of Broadway’s most imaginative directors, Michael Arden (Tony-winning Best Revival – Once on this Island).
Arden moves his subject forward through each of Dickens' staves, but the production arrives nowhere. There is no unique point of view or revelation from this solo 'Carol,' which puts Mays' malleability to waste. The production skews gloomier than most modern retellings. A casket taunts us from center stage before the show begins. Then, a loud, booming sound (design by Joshua D. Reid) shocks us into action. Courtesy of lighting designer Ben Stanton, deep shadows envelop the stage - an effect which successfully relays a cinematic-like quality of ominousness, but unsuccessfully keeps its audience awake.
This 'Christmas Carol' comes to an early climax - perhaps too early for the show's own good - when Scrooge is visited by the ghost of Marley, his old business partner in miserliness and nitpicking contempt for humanity. No two actors could achieve what Mays, Stanton and Arden offer up here: the suddenly meek and frightened Scrooge bathed in warm candle light one minute, the commanding and devouring Marley drenched in green stench only a second later. How can any 'Christmas Carol' ever top that kind of theatrical tour de force? The adaptation by Mays, Arden and Susan Lyons never quite rises to the terrifying depths of this encounter between Scrooge and Marley. The production continues to be worth watching, but the humbug curmudgeons in the audience might wonder if maybe, despite the show's theme of stinginess, another actor or two could be hired to handle some of the lighter lifting of Dickens' less indelible characters.
1994 | Off-Broadway |
Original Off-Broadway Production Off-Broadway |
1995 | Off-Broadway |
Return Engagement [off-Broadway] Off-Broadway |
1996 | Off-Broadway |
Return Engagement [off-Broadway] Off-Broadway |
1996 | Broadway |
Return Engagement Broadway |
1997 | Off-Broadway |
Return Engagement [off-Broadway] Off-Broadway |
1998 | Off-Broadway |
Return Engagement [off-Broadway] Off-Broadway |
1999 | Off-Broadway |
Return Engagement [off-Broadway] Off-Broadway |
2000 | Off-Broadway |
Return Engagement [off-Broadway] Off-Broadway |
2022 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2023 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Award | Jefferson Mays |
2023 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Lighting Design (Play or Musical) | Ken Elliott |
2023 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Solo Performance | Jefferson Mays |
2023 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Sound Design (Play or Musical) | Joshua D. Reid |
2023 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Video or Projection Design (Play or Musical) | Lucy Mackinnon |
2023 | Tony Awards | Best Lighting Design of a Play | Ben Stanton |
2023 | Tony Awards | Best Scenic Design of a Play | Dane Laffrey |
2023 | Tony Awards | Best Sound Design of a Play | Joshua D. Reid |
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